


A Comfortable Fire

by alorarose



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-22
Updated: 2013-02-22
Packaged: 2017-12-03 06:15:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/695128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alorarose/pseuds/alorarose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Over time, Mulan discovers the feelings she has for Philip</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Comfortable Fire

**Author's Note:**

> This was written as part of the 2012 Once Upon a Time Holiday Exchange on Livejournal for calmingcupoftea.

Mulan glanced over at Philip, the ogre looming above them and trying to figure out their location. They kept as quiet as they could and stared up at the large creature, waiting for it to lose interest. She wished she had something to spark a flame with, anything to drive it off more quickly but they were caught unawares. Well, as unawares as two trained fighters could be caught. They were always at the ready. The ogres fought by drive, there was no intelligence behind it, and it made it easier to defeat them. They were large, slow, and blind, while she and Philip were quick and could see everything around them, especially the forest floor.

She moved slowly now, though, and pulled two arrows from her quiver. As long as she didn't make a sound she'd be fine, she kept telling herself. She notched the arrows and pulled back on her bow, the wood creaking softly. Philip didn't even need any prompting. Once she was in position, he shouted, catching the ogre's attention and causing it to turn to them. She loosed the arrows into it's throat, her aim perfect. But it barely slowed it down.

Philip ran and the act startled Mulan. Why was he running? The prince shouted and the ogre followed him. Mulan raced after them both, notching more arrows as she moved.

~*~*~

"That was a stupid thing to do," Mulan chided him as she cleaned the wound on his upper arm. The bleeding had stopped, for the most part, but it would need to be stitched. "You could have gotten yourself killed, Philip. You need to be less reckless."

"Less reckless," he watched the red stained cloth in her hands as it dabbed at the wound, wiping the blood away. "I was drawing it away from you. We had a better chance if we split up, those arrows would have done no more than stung it, Mulan."

"You don't need to draw the danger away from me, I am fully capable of defending myself-"

"I know," he cut her off, his hand coming up slowly. "I meant no offense. I would have done the same for anyone."

She looked at him, trying to figure out the expression on his face. It made her feel a longing, a sense of need that she wasn't sure she wanted to feel, let alone _should_ be feeling. But when he looked at her like that it made her think, even if for just a moment, that it could be possible. They'd fought side by side for so long, it felt natural to have him there. She looked away, sorting through her supplies and pulling a fresh cloth to wrap around his arm. "We should keep moving," she said and gestured to let him know he could put his shirt back on. "We have a lot of ground to cover."

~*~*~

He reached his hand down to her and she took it without thinking. When they set out to climb the face of this cliff she hadn't realized how steep it really was. She'd shucked her gloves only a quarter of the way up in favor of better grip with her bare fingers. Philip pulled her up onto the next ledge and looked up to see how much more they had to climb. 

"Should have looked for a better way up," Philip teased as he walked the length of the small ledge, looking for a good hold to keep climbing. It wasn't becoming any easier the higher they went. 

"Not up to the challenge?" Mulan returned the tease and started the climb again, gripping a root to pull her up another half foot. She always gave a tentative tug of the roots, not knowing how secure they were.

"Always up for the challenge," Philip called after her. "You make me feel like we can do anything, Mulan."

She didn't answer but her mind was reeling, once again, on what he could possibly mean. She kept climbing and told herself that nothing could ever come of it. He'd find his princess and their search would be over. She chanced a glance down at him, watching the top of his head as he reached for the next hold. "There better be a unicorn up there," she said.

"There better be a whole blessing of unicorns up there," Philip shot back.

There were no unicorns on top of the cliff. But there _was_ another cliff.

~*~*~

It was an unnaturally cold night and Mulan huddled against Philip's side to share in his body heat. They'd found a wayward pine which took the bite of the wind off their backs but the air still chilled their bones. She nursed the small fire they had running which was just enough for heat and not enough to attract any unwanted attention. His arm wrapped around her shoulder causing her heart to flutter and she closed her eyes to pretend. She pretended that he was hers and that once this was all said and done, she wasn't going to lose him. That's when he whispered something softly in her ear, so soft that she'd almost missed it. Her eyes opened and looked at him, attempting to figure out if it was really him or if it was just the wind playing tricks with her. He kissed her and then she knew.

~*~*~

The castle was in view and Mulan's heart ached with a sense of dread when it should be filled with a sense of elation. The days after that kiss weren't spent in awkward silence. In fact, it was quite the opposite. They'd gotten even more comfortable with each other and the thought of it ending made Mulan's heart weep. 

He stepped in front of her, a smile on his face. That smile that melted her heart each time, no matter how hard she tried not to fall for him. 

"We tell her everything," he said. "We hold nothing back from her."

"Everything?" Mulan heard herself ask before she could stop it.

"Everything," he confirmed.


End file.
